Bars and Stealing Bubblegum
by ntlpurpolia
Summary: One of those cute, fluffy, Thalico one shots. Inspired by Intoxicated by the Cab and C'mon by Kesha. May be a collection of one shots if requested.
1. Bars and Stealing Bubblegum

**A/N: I do not own the song C'mon by Kesha or Intoxicated by the Cab. That belongs to... whatever record company produced it. I own only the plotline. The characters belong to Rick Riordan, who I really wish would write faster so we can all read the last HOO book.**

**Thalia's POV**

Why on earth had I agreed to come here with Annabeth? (Also known as my evil roommate.) Oh, yeah, because she swore she'd do the laundry for a month. Nonetheless, it was a very uncomfortable position to be in, as bars were... how do I put this? Not. My. Scene. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an equally bored-looking boy dressed in black ripped jeans and a Green Day T-shirt. Since that was my favourite band, I decided to go talk to him.

Plopping down on a bar stool next to him and ordering a Jack and Coke, I asked him,

"Did your roommate force you to come here, too?"

The guy blinked, and nearly jumped a foot in the air, like he was surprised anyone would even bother to talk to him, much less give him a second glance. "Yeah."

That's it. No anecdotes, or any irritating small talk. Simple. Straightforward. I like this guy already.

"I'm Thalia."

"Nico."

Just at that moment, the DJ starts playing C'mon by KEsha. I groan, then shout over the music,

"This has got nothing on Green Day, don't you think?"

Nico grins, a small smile, and only for a second, but it lights up his entire face, crinkling his eyes at the corners. "Want to dance to some really crappy music, Thalia?" He offers me a hand, which I shrug off despite the fact that chivalry is dead -or so I thought.

_'Cause I know just what I like_

_And you're looking just like my type_

It was true, though. He a) wore black b) didn't talk a lot c) was shy, not brash and arrogant like my ex-boyfriend Luke, and d) HE LIKED GREEN DAY. Need I say more?

_Let's go for it just for the night_

_C'mon, c'mon, c'mon _

It could've been the feeling of being slightly intoxicated, or the way a certain dark-eyed, raven-haired boy looked at me like I was the only girl in the room -which was intoxicating in its own way- but I thought, _why the hell not? _

_Now don't even try to deny_

_We're both going home satisfied_

With a grin that made my heart beat as hard as the bass playing in the background, he suggested,

"Want to get out of here?" There was nothing suggestive in those words, just the simple nonchalance of two friends hanging out.

"Where to?"

"Obviously, the seven eleven next door."

"Okay." Somehow I felt that even if it were a back alley to smoke cigarettes I would've agreed.

* * *

In the bright fluorescent lights of the overly air-conditioned convenience store, I shivered, wishing I'd thought to bring a coat.

"So, what are we doing here?"

"Bettering your opinion of pop culture and Kesha songs, obviously." Just when I was going to tell him that nothing could ever possibly better my opinion of Kesha or, gods forbid -pop music- he interrupted. Lowering his voice, he beckoned me over from his spot next to the display of breath mints and gum, looking like James Bond but less British and more handsome. "We are going to steal bubblegum."

Since the act required for the two of us to be n close proximity, I shivered and tried to think of a witty remark. "But it isn't a Maxi Mart."

"close enough."He huffed, looking adorably distressed.

I grinned, and he took note of this, mock-sighing oh so 'tragically'. "Basking in my agony, I see. Why is it that way with everyone?"

"Because you're so annoying?"

We were at the makings of a splendid conversation -all banter and nothing philosophical, which was just the way I liked it- when the clerk rudely interrupted,

"Are you going to buy anything, or just stand there and talk all night?" He seemed highly upset at the prospect of us simply loitering in his store and not buying anything, which I could understand. It had gotten me kicked out of several shops before.

"We were just leaving, sir." So, he was cute, liked Green Day, shy, AND well-mannered? Was there something wrong with this guy?

He grabbed a pack of gum and tucked it up his sleeve in one fluid motion, a rather impressive sleight of hand. But I could do better. So I, too, grabbed a package of the sticky-when-chewed substance. He grabbed for my hand and made for the door. It took all of seventeen seconds for the shopkeeper to register this, and when he did we were already at the door of the club.

"IDs, please?" Asked the bouncer, crossing his arms across his chest, and looking nearly as unhappy as the cashier.

Quickly we fumbled for the pieces of plastic, the store owner hot on our heels.

"Hurry!" I hissed, trying to control my giggles. Finally we got the damn things out in the nick of time.

Nico tugged on my arm. "This way!"he pointed towards a door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY, but who cared?

He closed the door behind us. It locked with a click. I looked around and found we were in a room full of cardboard boxes. Outside though muffled by the door I could hear the beginnings of one of my favorite songs: Intoxicated by the Cab.

"You think he's given up?"

"Not a chance. But who cares?"

"Truer words were never spoken, m'dear."

Before I knew it, He was pulling me onto the dance floor.

"I can't dance!"

"That's why they call it the first dance. Besides, this is a slow song. We don't have to dance."

_In a room full of frozen faces_

_In a moment of fractured time_

_We eclipse in a conversation_

_As the world they pass us by_

"You know this song?" I asked him, surprised.

"Are you kidding? I love this song."

Together, we sang the chorus.

_and I, I think you're from another world_

_And I couldn't love another girl_

_'Cuz you, you make me feel like I'm intoxicated_

"Thalia?"

"Yeah?"

"Want to hang out together the next time our roommates drag us to a bar?"

"Is that your insane way of asking me to go out with you?"

"Maybe...Yes?"

"Then I accept."

"Why?"

"Obviously,

_'_Cuz you, you make me feel like I'm intoxicated."


	2. Snowball Fights and Screwing Oaths

**Thalia's still a Hunter. This is NOT AU. After the second war. Here's a late New Year's present for you all. **

The Hunters were visiting camp for the week. This led to much complaints and sighs from most of the Hunters, but not me. It would be nice to see Percy and Annabeth again. Apparently we had picked the best time of year to come, because Chiron had somehow managed to coax Mr. D into enchanting the camp so that it would snow. Now all the campers, with Travis and Connor Stoll at the head of it of course, had decided to build snow forts and have a snowball fight.

"Everybody! Find a partner!"

Of course, Percy and Annabeth were partners, surprisingly so were Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner, and since there was an odd number of Hunters, I got left out. Leo Valdez, the annoying idiot who'd tried to ask me out, couldn't play because he might melt the snow. I laughed at that.

Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Because I was so used to being attacked out of nowhere, the next thing my 'assaulter' knew, I was pinning the person to the ground with my knees on either side of him and my knife to their throat.

"Well, I didn't realize... this was a... hand-to-hand combat lesson." The guy I'd shoved to the ground was... hot. (I might've been a Hunter, but that didn't mean I couldn't look!) Dark hair, dark eyes, pale as hell- he had the whole brooding, mysterious thing down to a T.

Nico di Angelo?

"It isn't." This isn't awkward at all. Sense my sarcasm?

"So you always pin random boys to the ground and try to kill them?"

"Shut up. What do you want, Death Breath?" I got up, dusting myself off.

"There's no need to be so rude, _Grace_." I gritted my teeth as usual when anyone said my last name, even though it was somehow marginally less irritating when he did. "I was going to ask you if you wanted to be partners with me, but now I guess-"

"Fine. But only because there's no one else."

"Aw, I feel so loved. "

"Drat, that _totally_ wasn't the angle I was going for." If sarcasm was water, he'd be drowning.

He fake gasped. "Did Thalia Grace just use the cheerleader word 'totally'? Maybe you spent too much time as a tree, I think it's messed with your brain."

"I'm shocked you even know what a cheerleader _is_, considering you're what, eighty?"

"Whatever. And I was born in World War Two."

I changed the subject.

"You look ..." _Hotter? Sexier? Older?_ "Different." This was odd, because I rarely struggled for words.

"And you look the same as you did three years ago."

"I would hope so, I didn't think I've quit the hunters recently."

"Who knows? Maybe you have."

"Fat chance, and that was the worst comeback I've ever heard, _Di Angelo_."

"Ow!"

"What? It couldn't have hurt that much."

"No, stupid, Connor just hit me with a snowball." He snapped, massaging his face.

I ignored the stupid comment before deciding on, "Don't just stand there rubbing your face, it won't make you any prettier. Throw one back at him!"

Instead of throwing it at the annoying prank-playing boy, he threw it at me. "Oops. Guess I missed..." he said in a faux-innocent voice.

"You are so dead, Di Angelo! Get back here!"

I launched a missile of frozen ice crystals at him, which he dodged before slipping on a patch of ice, causing him to make an epic face plant.

In an extremely juvenile way, he stuck his tongue out at me before pelting me -or rather, trying, with try being the operative word- with five snowballs. The first three missed as I chased him, careful to steer clear of the icy ground he'd fell on earlier. But the second two hit their target.

"Ha!" The sound of Nico's jubilant laughter rang through the crisp, cold winter air like a bell.

"That's all you've got?" I picked a clump of snow of off the ground and threw it at hI'm as hard as I could.

He fell in slow motion, hitting his head on the frozen ground. I ran towards him, my mind as numb as the snow from panic- why, I had no idea. it wasn't as though we were very close, but it was near instinct to ensure he was all right, like it was almost second nature.

"Oh my gods, are you okay?"

I was bent over him, worrying needlessly even though we were demigods and therefore tougher than the average mortal.

All of a sudden, he bolted upright and kissed me full on the mouth; given the compromising position we had been in, it shouldn't have been that hard.

He pulled away suddenly. "You have an oath..."

"Screw oaths."


End file.
